Former Tenant Expresses Sympathy for Jim Gavin Amid €3,300 Rent Controversy

Dublin: A former tenant who claims he is owed €3,300 in unpaid rent from 2009 has said he feels “sorry” for former Dublin GAA manager Jim Gavin, following Gavin’s dramatic withdrawal from the presidential race over the long-standing debt.

Speaking exclusively to the Irish Mirror, the man acknowledged that while Gavin had failed to repay the amount, he believed the issue had been mishandled by those advising the former Air Corps officer and six-time All-Ireland winning football manager.

“We’ve all made mistakes in life, so I do feel sorry for him in that way,” the man said, adding that he would have accepted Gavin’s apology had he reached out and promised repayment when the story first broke last Friday.

The controversy erupted late last week when reports emerged that Gavin owed the man €3,300 in rent payments dating back sixteen years. The former tenant said he was disappointed that Gavin had not personally contacted him, despite publicly pledging on Sunday night to rectify the matter.

“If he had just called me and said, ‘I meant to do it and never got around to it,’ that would have been fine. I kind of blame Fianna Fáil for how this was handled,” he said. “You can see he was following advice — and it wasn’t good advice.”

According to the man, Fianna Fáil issued a statement on Friday claiming Gavin had “no recollection or records” of any such dispute, prompting him to reach out to the party directly.

“That annoyed me, because I had pursued him for ages trying to get the money back,” he explained. “They promised to get back to me, but never did.”

The man also said he was unaware that Gavin had experienced financial difficulties around the time of the unpaid rent, and that he sympathised with the impact the revelation had on his campaign.

“It’s a mistake he must have made. I didn’t know he was in financial trouble then — he certainly never said it to me,” he added. “We’ve all made mistakes. In fairness to him, he admitted that in his statement.”

He confirmed that he now fully accepts Gavin’s explanation, saying:

“One hundred percent. If he had told me he was struggling financially and would pay me back later, that would have been fine. But that’s not what he said at the time.”

The former tenant described the original dispute as stemming from an oversight after he vacated an apartment in north central Dublin in 2009. He explained that he had continued to pay rent for several months through a standing order he forgot to cancel, amounting to €3,300.

At the time, his partner was expecting their first child, and he said the financial strain was significant.

“I was under a lot of pressure. I wasn’t earning much, and it was really tough,” he recalled. “That money meant a lot to me.”

He said he made multiple attempts to contact Gavin through phone calls, emails, text messages, and even a solicitor’s letter.

“I eventually went to his parents’ house with the solicitor’s letter because I didn’t have his address,” he said. “I also sent registered letters to three places — Baldonnel, where he was working with the Air Corps, the apartment, and his parents’ home.”

As of Monday afternoon, the man confirmed that Gavin had still not contacted him directly, though the former Dublin manager pledged to “correct his mistake” in his public statement.